Professional Knife Repairs by *AJH* Custom Knives & Services

Minimum Start up fee per knife

Postage out - First $25 to $45 - depends on shipping selected, package dimensions and weight, what state or country the knife returns to, and how high the insurance.

Receiving materials and supplies - depends on the US supplier shipping options - complete nightmare if UPS is only option

Customs Brokerage fee and GST

My return handling costs
- consists of making or purchasing return containers, scanning and mailing pictures, email, securing the finished and sharp knife for shipping, making shipping labels, cost of printing supplies for those, travel to the Post Office to mail it.Many hours of extra time for each knife at you costs often less than $5.00

So, for each design, each knife I make or repair for you, however small and insignificant, it would be impossible without the above mentioned inherent costs.

Just have a wobbly blade
The pivot pin / rivet is worn out, possibly bent. The liners are worn at pivot contact - scored by the heal of the wobbly blade.
The pins / rivets have to be punched out and whole folder completely disassembled, because Liners / frame have to be restored to a flat contact surface or blade will wobble even with a new pin.

To replace a broken folder blade
Same as above. It is extremely difficult, and in many cases impossible, without taking the knife completely apart after wasting a lots of time.
Also in this case the knife can not be cleaned inside, and new blade can not be correctly fitted to spring. Therefore it is not done here.Your perfectly good scales will not survive this, although I try my best to save them.
Your perfectly good ancient handle scales will crumble like a dry toast at the re-assembly if not already broken up by disassembly.
This is the way it is with rivets at the very edge of materials (Master pin in the middle of handle)The replacement scales will not be identical to your originals.
You are looking at extra cost of material - I do provide new installation labor at no extra charge.

The replacement folder blade needs to be fitted as to the thickness and position in opened and in closed positions to a tolerance of 0.002" - it is installed, checked and measured, adjusted, and reinstalled several times to accomplish that.

Pins / rivets Pins can't be reused and have to be replaced.
All pins require machining from meager size selection one can purchase from Knife making supply stores, as the factory pin sizes are not available to public.

Rusty blades - fixed or folding
Most blades do require complete re-grind to be restored - the rust pits can be very small and seemingly insignificant, but also very deep.
With any pits left, good mirror polish is out of the question, as pits leave wash out lines.
Even with complete re-grind it is not always possible to get all the rust pits out, and they are usually left alone where the trademarks are stamped onto the blade's
ricasso near the handle.
For most rusted blades, glass bead blasting will clean the pits and makes them less visible, looking much cleaner.
If the blade is re ground ( even 5 thousands of an inch), the back spring has to
be re ground also to match - or the blade would become too sloppy sideways and spring too squeezed in between liners to work at all.

Etching: - If there is any logo etched or stamped too faintly on the blade itself, removing rust will
obliterate it.
The only exception is the stamp or etching is deep enough in the blade.
It is not possible to sand and polish just around it.
So if is to be saved, that side of blade will not be touched at all. All ugly sharpening scratches will remain.The work takes about 8-10 hours per knife from complete basic refinish up to the time is checked in at the Post Office
takes longer for more extensive repairs.
Making, hardening and tempering a replacement blade or spring is a job requiring additional time and expensive resources.

Kitchen knives
Even if you only have a cheap small kitchen knife needing a new handle (like the one you got at the garage sale for $2.00 - the cost of the repair is a lots more than meets the eye.
The handle material and installation is the same as is for $400 custom made knife, and finishing it takes as much shop resources as for the expensive knife.
It is unfortunate, and not avoidable.
Prices of supplies sky rocketed, and postage went up from $8 to $35 for the Express Post.
Now there are fuel surcharge added to the mail ... The lists of costs is growing. This is what average Basic fee is calculated on.
As the problem with "lost" mail is ever present, the cheapest insured mail with the tracking is by Expedited Parcel Post.